Bygone Days
by Sabishi Tomo
Summary: In college now, Natsume encounters his old friend Ogata Yuriko and rekindles their friendship. Based on Episode 44. Chapter 6: Natsume finds out about Reiko's later years.
1. Chapter 1

Ogata Yuriko is the character introduced in Episode 44 (or Episode 5 of Natsume Yuujinchou Shi), as well as Manga Chapter 36.5, where she reminisces about meeting Natsume the year before. I was really happy that Natsume had at least one friend in middle school, and I adored the way Yuriko stood up for him. Hence, I wanted to continue that story. Natsume and his friends are in college in this fanfiction.

Feedback greatly appreciated because that helps me become a better writer, and encourages me to keep going. Thanks!

Natsume Yuujinchou belongs to Yuki Midorikawa.

* * *

Ogata Yuriko sat in the back of the lecture hall, doodling with purpose in the back of her notebook. It was a character design that had been eluding her lately. Sudden inspiration had struck in the form of her dull but eccentric-looking World History professor, who lulled her to sleep with his lectures, but was actually being useful today…by being the basis for her design.

Her design incidentally had nothing to do with her class, or schoolwork in general. But Yuriko had never prided herself on being the best student. Her justification was that, hey, at least she was going to college, and not falling asleep in class to boot. However, this was her first week at Fukuoka University as a college freshman, so she certainly wasn't setting the best track record for herself.

What Yuriko really wanted to do with her life was become a mangaka. That had been her dream since elementary school. Of course, her mom would never let her pursue that straight out of high school, with no certainty of her future. Hence, she had entered college as a means of appeasing her. Truth be told, she often had doubts herself about whether she would ever be able to make it as a manga artist, so this was more of a safety net than anything else. Then, there was the third reason, which was that she wanted some distance from her mom…

College entrance exams had been a pain, and she was honestly surprised when she got accepted into the university of her choice. Going to the shrine every day for almost a month before her exams had paid off apparently. But now that she was here, keeping up her grades was secondary to furthering her dream of becoming an artist.

As she looked up again from her drawing to observe her professor, a guy in the second row caught her eye. She could only see the back of his head and part of his face, but with that dusty-blond hair and profile, he reminded her awfully of Natsume…

The uncanny resemblance could very well be a coincidence, but for the rest of class, Yuriko was too distracted to complete her drawing. She could only stare at the back of the boy's head, hoping he would turn around, at least slightly, so she could see him better.

When class ended she immediately stood up to approach him, but there were over a dozen people in front of her blocking the way. She caught a glimpse of him talking to a dark-haired guy, but by the time she reached the corridor, he was nowhere in sight.

Surely she had been reading too much into the resemblance anyway? What were the odds that her middle school friend would end up in the same university as her? While she had never expected to see Natsume again after he was forced to transfer, which was over three years ago now, she had always wanted to know how he was doing. It would be bad to get her hopes up now, only for it to be dashed later, but she desperately wished that the blonde-haired boy was Natsume. She had been lucky to have some great friends in her childhood, especially her best friend, Junko, but her connection with Natsume was different. It was special to her.

It was a day later, as she was returning to her dorm, that she saw him again in the grassy area beside the Law Building, holding his bag in front of him as if pushing an invisible enemy. Then, something even stranger happened. Yuriko couldn't tell very clearly in the fading light, but a white and orange blob that resembled a lucky cat jumped in front of the boy and seemed to disappear. There was a sharp gust of wind that made Yuriko blink. When she opened her eyes again, the boy was on the ground, coughing, and the cat had reappeared on his stomach. What on earth had just happened?

She heard a familiar voice say, "Thank you, sensei." Her heart thumping, she went forward.

"Natsume-kun. It's Natsume-kun isn't it?"

He sat up startled, and looked at her blankly. "Uh…yes, who are you?"

This oddly reminded her of their first meeting. "Don't tell me you forgot the girl who you once kicked in the face! It's Ogata. Ogata Yuriko. We were in the same class in Year Three of middle school."

Natsume had gotten up to face her and was smiling now. "Ogata! Yes of course, I remember you. I couldn't recognize you. You wear glasses now, and your hair is shorter."

Yuriko self-consciously pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Thank God, I don't know what I would have said next if you didn't remember." She laughed sheepishly. "You look the same, except a lot taller. What are the chances that we would end up in the same university, huh? I was so surprised!"

The cat abruptly jumped off from Natsume's arms, and trotted off. "Ahhh, Nyanko-sensei, where are you going?"

Yuriko chuckled. "Nyanko-sensei? That's a great name for your pet, it suits him somehow! He's very interesting looking too, just like a maneki neko!"

She could have sworn the cat stopped to look back at her malevolently. "U-uh, I-mean, that is, he is super cute!" She sneaked a glance back at Natsume who looked amused. "Natsume-kun, I think Nyanko-sensei is on to me."

Natsume laughed. "Yeah, he is one heck of a moody cat. Don't worry, some insult to his pride is good for him."

_He has such a beautiful laugh_, Yuriko thought. _He looks much happier now than in middle school. I'm glad. How do I tell him how happy I am for him?_

She wanted to ask him many things. There was so much to say, but she didn't know how to start. She had had difficulty talking to him in middle school too, and it had taken a long time for them to actually have proper conversations. It was a pity that he had been forced to transfer right after they had gotten comfortable with each other.

He was staring intently at a spot on her arm. There was nothing there though. "Natsume-kun. Is there something wrong with my arm?"

Natsume shook his head violently. "No-no, not at all. Sorry, I was just spaced out." Yuriko noticed that he kept glancing back at the same spot, and that he looked stricken when she pinched the spot in her arm. She wanted to know what the problem was, but refrained from asking anything else. She would rather have his company for longer.

She thought about a safe topic to talk about. Finding none, she ventured cautiously, "Toyamatsu-kun told us he came across you and your guardian one day. It sounded like you found a good family."

"Toyamatsu-kun?"

"He was the guy in our class who studied all the time and didn't talk to anyone, so I'm not surprised you don't remember him. He joined the cycling club in high school, and said he saw you on a trip."

"I do remember a cyclist when I was shopping with Touko-san one day… He, uh, dropped something that I picked up. I'm pretty sure that's who you're talking about."

"Is Touko-san your guardian?"

"Yes. Fujiwara Shigeru-san and Touko-san took me in." Natsume's face had lit up. "They are really nice people."

His smile was contagious. "I'm glad, Natsume-kun."

There was a period of awkward silence, during which Yuriko racked her brains for what to say and Natsume slung his messenger back across his shoulder. "I guess I'm going to head to my dorm now, Ogata. I'm happy we got to meet again. I'm sure I'll see yo-"

"No!" Natsume's eyes widened as Yuriko grasped his shoulders in a death-grip. "I'm not letting you off that easily. We just met again after three years, we have to catch up. Are you busy right now?"

"Not busy, no," Natsume said hesitantly.

"Awesome! I haven't had dinner yet, and there's this great udon shop around the corner that's super cheap. Let's go. I won't take no for an answer."

There was a small pause during which Yuriko started to fear that he would say no despite her insistence. But Natsume conceded with a small smile. "Well, if you don't take no for an answer, I guess I don't have a choice."

Conversation flowed more easily over udon, mostly due to Yuriko's repeated prodding and questions. Yuriko learned that Natsume was in the Humanities department like her, and that two of his close friends, Tanuma and Kitamoto, were attending college with him. He mentioned some other friends, who were dispersed through different colleges, and briefly talked about life with the Fujiwaras. He was purposely vague about how he found Nyanko-sensei though, which made her form her own ideas.

Speaking of Nyanko-sensei, the cat had conveniently made his way back to Natsume just as they were going to enter the udon shop. Natsume had bought him a bowl, and he was now slurping it happily. Yuriko was pretty sure pets weren't allowed in the shop, but they were being discreet, and the place was too packed for anyone to notice anyway.

It was windy outside with storm clouds brewing overhead, as they made their way back to the dorms. Natsume sighed as his bangs kept being pushed into his eyes. Yuriko looked at him with a neutral expression. Should she keep quiet this time around? She had unintentionally hurt him the last time.

He glanced at her sideways and smiled. "My hair is quite long and needs a cut, is that what you're thinking?"

"I didn't say anything!" She spluttered.

Natsume laughed. "To answer your curiosity, I still cut my hair myself, even though I can get it professionally cut if I want to. It just became a habit. I'm sure it would look better if I got it cut by someone else, but it doesn't matter to me enough to do that." He fingered his bangs thoughfully. "I DO need to cut my hair soon."

Yuriko hesitated for a second, and then spoke up. "I'm not a professional, but I know how to cut hair. If you want, I can cut it for you sometime. It's probably slightly better than cutting yourself."

Natsume looked surprised. "You cut hair?"

Yuriko was embarrassed. "It's not like that exactly. My mom cuts hair, she has a small salon. I picked it up from her a few years ago, just for fun, and helped her out sometimes."

"Is that why you notice people's hair? Because you've grown up around it?"

"You could say that." What Yuriko wouldn't tell him is that it was her fascination for him that had led her to learning how to cut from her mom in the first place. It had been after he left, and it had felt like a connection to him, however small.

"Okay," said Natsume. "Sure."

"Huh? Sure what?"

"Sure, you can cut it." Natsume smiled at her. He smiled a lot, didn't he? He didn't do that in middle school. Was it that he had so much joy now that it always spilled over, or was it to hide something else? "It can't hurt. So why not?"

"Great! How about Thursday then?" She would practice with a wig before then. She was a little rusty now, and she certainly didn't want to mess his hair up. "If you don't like it, it's not my fault, alright?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine."

They had reached the girl's dorm by now. "Thanks for today, Natsume-kun."

"For what?"

"I did pretty much drag you to dinner with me."

There was the omnipresent smile. "It was fun."

"I am going to head back to my room then. Bye, sensei!" She waved at the cat perched on Natsume's shoulder and took off.

"Did you see the red clingbug on her arm, sensei? It was Suneko, the clingbug that clung to me for a week, and then disappeared one day. Remember it jumped on me from a bunch of cyclists?" Natsume mused that one of those cyclists must have been Toyamatsu. Interesting that Suneko had gone back to Ogata's town, where he had first met it, and was now with Ogata. Perhaps it would return to the town again soon.

"It was a weakling anyway." Nyanko-sensei scoffed. He looked up at Natsume speculatively. "To think you had friends in middle school. I always thought those two idiots, Kitamoto and Nishimura, were your first friends."

"She was the only one before them. "

Nyanko-sensei gave a sly smile. "And a haircut, huh? How sweet."

Natsume shrugged. "Let's go say hi to Tanuma before heading to the room?"

"You go visit the twerp. I am going to find me some sake." Nyanko-sensei giggled as he wandered off.

Natsume rolled his eyes. As he was about to enter the boy's dorm building though, he collided with a green goblin. "Natsume-samaaa," the goblin wailed and grabbed his arm. "Please help me find my brother. Some of my youkai friends said you could help."

"I guess Tanuma will have to wait." Natsume sighed and followed the goblin.

* * *

Let me know your thoughts! Had a lot of fun writing this. Writing Yuriko was an interesting experience. While she has a lot of potential as a major character, since she has such a small role in canon she's not very well-developed. I took what I could from the source material though. For example, the fact that her dream is to be a mangaka came from the fact that her bookshelf in her room is filled with manga. Her mom owning a salon was random, but she seemed like the type.

This was originally meant to be a one-shot, but I will most likely continue this. Not totally sure!

Feedback greatly _greatly_ appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to all my readers in the last chapter! A special shout-out to Sincerely the Sign Painter, ShadowSnowdapple, a random person, and the two guests for reviewing :).

Enjoy Chapter 2! Also something super exciting: Yuriko can be added as a character in the filter search for Natsume Yuujincho now :).

* * *

While Yuriko set up for his haircut, Natsume distracted himself from the discomfort of being alone in a girl's room. He hadn't thought it through when he agreed to the haircut, had he? It would have made him feel better if Nyanko-sensei were here, but of course, the spirit made it a habit of disappearing when he wanted him the most.

He looked around Yuriko's room. Every inch of the small wall space in the dorm room was covered with posters and paintings. The posters were not that interesting to him because they were from anime and TV shows he rarely watched, although he did regard the poster of Natori with some amusement. What intrigued him were the paintings. They were mostly landscapes with people featured in some way and –

"Hoho, Natsume-kun," said a sing-song voice. "I saw you staring at the Unloved poster. A Natori Shuuichi fan, are you?"

Natsume jumped. "N-No! Absolutely not! I was just wondering what the appeal was that's all. He seems like a regular guy to me."

"Right right," Yuriko said smirking. "Take a seat."

Yuriko wrapped a towel around his shoulders and put clips around his bangs. Still looking at the paintings as he sat, he inquired, "Are those paintings by you?"

"Yeah." Suddenly uncharacteristically shy, she asked, "Did you like them?"

"They're amazing, I like them a lot." He couldn't see Yuriko's expression when she thanked him but he wasn't lying. The detail in her work was superb. There was one painting in particular that caught his eye. It was a lone boy reading a book under a tree, his face in shadows. It drew him in somehow.

"Hey! Don't move around so much!" Yuriko's fingers were warm as she straightened his head. She grinned a bit, "Although, it would be interesting to see what you look like with a chunk of hair missing."

Natsume laughed nervously and sat up straighter. This girl definitely had an evil side.

"I put the paintings up to act as a reminder for my dream," she said. "I get lazy and lose track, so reminders always help."

"Your dream?"

Her voice was distant. "I want to get published at a reputed magazine as a mangaka someday."

"So the paintings are from your manga?"

"Only some. Others are random inspirations."

Natsume got the impression that there was more to the story, but that she wasn't comfortable to share yet. Even so, he was a little envious that Yuriko had a concrete goal that she was working towards. He didn't have anything like that driving his life. He had worked hard to attend college, not because he had particularly wanted to, but because he didn't want to let the Fujiwaras down. Their kindness had made an enormous difference in his life, and he wanted to show them that it had paid off. But what was it that he actually wanted to do with his life?

He didn't have a specific career goal in mind. Was it wrong to simply want to help people, both youkai and human, understand each other better? That's what he really wanted to do. First, understand people himself, and then help them understand each other better.

He simply could not imagine himself in a day job. How would he even explain youkai incidences that affected him in the workplace without people thinking he was crazy or getting fired? However, it was true that he was getting better at managing the boundaries between the two worlds lately. He had started learning how to make youkai seals from Natori and Hiiragi, in order to better dictate his involvement in the spiritual world, rather than letting it dictate him.

Things were quiet for a while except for the periodic sniping of scissors. Natsume enjoyed the feeling of his hair being brushed, and the soft touch of fingers on his scalp. Although he was slightly uncomfortable at the proximity, he had to admit that it was nice to be pampered.

"All done!" Yuriko exclaimed, turning his head this way and that. "I personally think it looks great, but I'll let you decide."

Natsume looked in the mirror he was handed, and got a surprise. His haircut was quite flattering. It was definitely an improvement from what he could have managed himself.

"So what do you think?" Yuriko had been watching him closely. Although she had her usual confident air about her, Natsume noted a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. She wanted his approval, he realized.

Embarrassed, and not entirely sure how to express his gratitude, he forced himself to be enthusiastic, "It looks great!"

Yuriko smiled awkwardly and turned to sweep up his hair on the floor. Natsume inwardly kicked himself, he had sounded so fake! He tried to redeem himself by hastening to take the broom away and cleaning for her, but the damage was done.

As Natsume returned to his dorm, he contemplated the irony of the fact that he found interacting with youkai easier than with humans. Youkai were always brutally honest with their demands of him after all. They did not sugarcoat things, or hide anything. In turn, Natsume found it easy to be completely open with them as well, whether it was in anger, exasperation, support or friendship. It was strange that despite the randomness and unpredictability of his spiritual encounters, he found himself more in control during them than when he was with humans.

Although, that did not mean his interactions with humans were any less worthwhile or special. He certainly treasured his human companions. In one sense, his human relationships were even more rewarding because of the extra effort he put into them. He supposed he had come a long way already, but he hoped he got better at them with time.

He would have to make it up to Yuriko at some point. She had been subdued when he left, probably thinking he hated his haircut. If only he had rectified the situation then.

.

.

.

He made it up to her in one way or another, by asking her to cut his hair again in three weeks' time. A haircut was not absolutely essential then, but he didn't want to wait any longer. He could tell it made her really happy. After that it became a regular occurrence, and he stopped cutting his own hair. He felt slightly guilty about getting a free service that was for all intents and purposes like a professional level haircut, but hey wasn't that what friends were for?

Still guilt-ridden, he started treating her to lunch every time she cut his hair, despite her insistence that it wasn't necessary. That was how she got to meet Tanuma and Kitamoto, who he often had lunch with. It was lucky that Tanuma, Kitamoto and he had gotten into the same university; his other friends were a little more scattered. Nishimura and Taki were both at Kyuushu University, which was about an hour away by train. Sasada was unfortunately even farther, but at least he got to see Nishimura and Taki regularly.

Time passed and summer break came and went. Natsume found himself reluctantly enjoying college and city life. He supposed having people around who cared about him made all the difference, wherever he was. Today, he was idyllically lying on his back in the woods on the edge of campus, staring at the russet-colored sky. It was almost sunset.

Nyanko-sensei was nuzzled against his side. The cat spirit had been indulging in one of his favorite activities in the grass – picking out and tormenting bugs – but had eventually succumbed to sleep. They had gone through a tiring day.

A shadow loomed over his face. "Natsume-kun? Where were you all day? You missed class!" Ah, Ogata.

Natsume smiled at her, but did not have the energy to get up and greet her properly. "Um, got busy with an errand."

"Must be an important errand, indeed!" She looked skeptical but didn't ask anything else.

He couldn't see her properly, but she must have sat down behind him and taken her sketchbook out, because he could hear scratching on paper. "Ahh, it's so pretty out today!" she exclaimed. Yep, he was right.

The truth was Hinoe had come to his dorm in the middle of the night to urgently ask for his and Nyanko-sensei's help. The Matoba clan had been exorcising an area inhabited by her friends for a week now. Being no match alone, she sought their assistance. Natsume had been reluctant to miss class, but how could he refuse Hinoe? She had helped him countless times after all.

The trip had taken most of the day, but at least the situation had been resolved. He thankfully did not have to deal with Matoba Seiji himself, since he had sent his lackeys to do his work for him this time.

"Did I miss anything in class, Ogata?"

"Not much in Foreign Literature. As for the other class, I have no idea."

"You were scolding me, but you missed class too?"

Yuriko's tone was sheepish. "Nope. I fell asleep."

Natsume laughed. Typical.

"Hey, you've fallen asleep in that class too, don't think I haven't noticed."

"Mmhm." He felt like following Nyanko-sensei's example himself and dozing off. The scratching of pencil against paper was calming. His eyelids drooped.

"Natsume-kun."

Natsume sighed. Thwarted. "What is it?"

She was silent for a moment as the scratching continued.

"You woke me up for this. Don't be silent now." Hm, his tiredness was making him more irritable than usual. Maybe Nyanko-sensei was rubbing off on him.

"Call me Yuriko."

He wasn't expecting that. "Why all of a sudden?" Natsume turned a little so he could look at her from the corner of his eye. She was pretending to be engrossed in her drawing so he couldn't see her expression.

"All my close friends called me Yuriko in high school. No-one here does, it's weird."

Natsume shrugged. "Sure I guess. Are you going to ask Tanuma and Kitamoto too?"

"Maybe." She was looking at him expectantly. "Well?"

He immediately understood. "Uh, hardly anyone calls me by my first name, even back at home."

"So you don't like your first name?"

"No, I do like it. Both my names are special to me."

"So I can call you by your first name then?" she asked with an innocent smile that was anything but innocent.

Natsume gave a resigned sigh. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Why so suspicious?"

"I don't know, maybe because I always feel like you're plotting something. Like, I get great haircuts now, but maybe one day I'll look in the mirror to see you cut it all off as a joke," he smiled to let her know he was teasing.

Yuriko laughed. "You make me sound cooler than I actually am." She tested out his first name. "Takashi-kun."

For all his grumbling, he didn't really mind that Yuriko called him by his first name. It was kind of nice actually. He also realized he was more comfortable with teasing his friends now. The mask that he had around humans, but not in the spiritual world, was beginning to slip, at least around some people. Content, he closed his eyes again as the scratching resumed.

* * *

Author's Note: As always, let me know what you think! Follows and favorites make me happy, but review are what helps me become a better writer :).

A note about the Japanese Academic Year: While my knowledge is limited, the Japanese academic year goes from April to March, and universities typically have two semesters (April-September and October-March), with three breaks (Summer break starting late July, a short winter break starting December, and Spring Break in early March). Hence, at the end of the chapter since summer had passed, Natsume and the others have finished their first semester and started their second semester, but are still first-year students. Hope that clears things up!

Natsume is an incredibly hard character to write so I am not sure if I did him justice. But it was fun to write. :)

I have about 7 chapters total planned for this story, but that number may go up or down. I will try to update regularly, at least 1-2 times per month (maybe more often), but depends on how busy I get. Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you to ShadowSnowdapple, AkabaneKazama, a random person, Sincerely the Sign Painter, MagicalNeko, and the guests for the lovely reviews. It always makes me happy to read your comments. Now on to Chapter 3!

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Kitamoto groaned from his spot in the library. "My professor is evil. I can't believe how much material is on our test tomorrow. I've been studying nonstop the last few days and I'm still not done!"

Natsume, who was seated on Kitamoto's left, gave his friend a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, Kitamoto. But I'm sure everyone in your class is in the same boat, so don't worry too much."

Kitamoto rested his forehead on the table and sighed, "I hope so…"

"Is that your phone that keeps vibrating, by the way? It's been going off for a while," Natsume said quizzically.

Kitamoto lifted his head, "Huh? Nope." He looked at Yuriko who was sitting across from him. "Your phone's ringing, Ogata." He couldn't see what she was doing because there was a pile of textbooks between them, but she was so engrossed in her work that she hadn't even looked up.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Kitamoto leaned over the books, making Yuriko yelp in surprise. He burst out laughing when he saw what she was doing, "Here I was actually thinking you were working for once, but you're _drawing_! I knew there was something fishy!"

"This is far more important than any homework," Yuriko said indignantly, glaring at him. "There's a one-shot competition coming up. The winner of the competition will get an apprenticeship with a mangaka called Kirigaya Yuki, who is a pretty big deal. Do you have any idea what that would mean for my career?!" Her eyes were gleaming.

"Right right, Ms. Manga Artist. I was completely wrong to think you were slacking off," said Kitamoto in a placating gesture, still thoroughly amused. "Just don't forget that you have to graduate too, and homework is an annoying but important part of that. Do you ever actually study?"

"Yes, I study! I'll have you know that while my grades may be mediocre they are certainly not terrible. Hmph, underestimating me."

"Okay, my mistake," Kitamoto was grinning.

Natsume smiled at their antics, although they were being far too loud for the library. Some people were throwing dirty looks in their direction. He looked around their table as the vibrating noise began again. "Yuriko, is that your phone going off?"

Yuriko sighed. "Yeah, my mom's been calling me. I was going to call her back later, but since I already got distracted-" She pointedly looked at Kitamoto, "I guess now's a good time as any. I'll be back in a bit."

"I want to sleep early for my test, so I'm probably leaving soon. See you later!" Kitamoto called out loudly as Yuriko exited with her phone, to more stares from the students around them.

Surprisingly, it was almost an hour later that Yuriko came back, and Kitamoto had already gone home. Yuriko looked upset, Natsume noted. Had she fought with her mom? She said, "Sorry that took so long. I guess you were forced to wait since I left all my stuff here."

"No worries, I was still working on my essay." Natsume smiled at her. It was only half a lie; he had finished a little while ago, but had entertained himself by looking at Yuriko's drawings. "Shall we head back?"

* * *

Yuriko appreciated the fact that Natsume didn't ask her anything as they walked from the library to the dorms. But while she wasn't sure she was ready to talk about her mom yet, it was eating at her slowly.

"Takashi-kun, I am going to go to the shrine to clear my head. Will you come with me?" Natsume agreed.

They went to a small shrine near campus that Yuriko often frequented. While there was the occasional visitor during the day, the shrine wasn't very well known since it was tucked away on the edge of the woods. At night, the place was almost eerie, because of the way the surrounding trees cast their shadows on the shrine grounds. But if you could get past that, the location offered an excellent view of the stars. Yuriko had stumbled upon the shrine one evening when she was wandering around campus looking for Natsume. It had quickly become her private sanctuary. It reminded her of the shrine she regularly visited at home, the one where she had first stumbled upon a sleeping Natsume during middle school, and where, in high school, she had her near death experience.

Once seated at the shrine, Yuriko ventured on the topic of her mom. While it was not an easy topic to talk about, she had a very attentive listener.

Ogata Fusae had never been supportive of her daughter's mangaka aspirations, and she had made that fact plain to Yuriko. However, Yuriko had not stopped trying. She had hoped that now that she was attending college upon her mother's wishes, she would find her mom more receptive to her mangaka dream. So, a few days previously, perhaps against her better judgment, she had told her about the one-shot competition and the chance to get an apprenticeship with a renowned manga artist.

Yuriko honestly didn't know why she had bothered, because since then her mom had been hounding her about not spending enough time on coursework. _Yuri-chan, you have your head in the clouds_, she had kept repeating.

"Lately, I don't even feel like talking to her. I guess I've been bitter at her this whole year for not letting me go to art school. I don't see how a degree in the Humanities department is going to help me get anywhere, but my mom doesn't give a damn about my career goals."

She blinked back tears. "I didn't want to push too hard, because deep down, I knew that she was only doing it because she was concerned. She raised me by herself since I was a kid, and she worked hard to do that. She never had the money to go to college, and it had been her dream that I would be able to go. I couldn't refuse something like that… Then, of course, there's the fact that if I fail to make it big as an artist, I'll have no money, I know that. So I listened to her. Then why, when I did exactly what she wanted, can I not pursue my passion on the side? It's like I always listen to her and do exactly as she asks, but she never listens to me! She's always talking over me."

There was a pause as Yuriko caught her breath. Natsume let her talk it out. "What terrifies me is that it might be my own fault. Maybe if I had worked harder in high school for my dream, and made more progress, she would have understood."

She sighed and brought her knees up to her chest, and buried her head, "I don't know what to do, Takashi-kun. I hate this."

Natsume said kindly, "You're being too harsh on yourself. It's true that you slack off on schoolwork sometimes, but you work harder than anyone on your art. You have the talent and the determination to make it, I know it."

He put a hand on top of her head, "If I can see that so easily, so can your mom. She raised you to be who you are after all. So maybe, the problem is that she hasn't seen your work the way I have? I'm sure when she sees it, she will understand."

Yuriko shook her head. "I don't know if she would understand, even if she saw it. I've shown her my work before."

"But it can't hurt to try again, right? You can send her some of your recent work, that's the first step. Or maybe when you're home next you can show her yourself. She is probably thinking about what's best for you, and can't see it from your perspective."

"Maybe you're right…"

They sat quietly watching the stars. Yuriko felt a lot calmer and happier now after getting everything out of her chest. But Natsume usually had that effect on her, without even trying. When she could feel the warmth of his smile, or smell his distinct earthly smell, she was content.

When had she begun to feel this way? While she fully did not understand her feelings, she knew that since she met Natsume in middle school, there was a magnetism that drew her to him. It had faded as time passed after he left, but now that they were together again, it was growing stronger with each passing day.

In her daze, she had not noticed that Natsume was staring at something on the edges of the shrine, and slowly shaking his head. With a start, she realized that there was some liquid (water?) dripping from his hair. But where did it come from? Before she could ask him about it, Natsume had gotten up abruptly. "Sorry, Yuriko, would you mind walking home by yourself? I just remembered something I have to do."

Her heart ached. Again, it was that part of Natsume's world that she did not understand. "Yeah, I'll see you later."

He gave her a distracted wave as he walked away. All Yuriko could feel was a sinking feeling at the pit of her stomach. She felt… betrayed. She had shared a very private part of her life with Natsume, but she was no closer to him confiding his secret with her. Not that she had told him about her mom with the hidden agenda to make him obligated to reveal something about himself. She had told him because she wanted to, but it still hurt. Why did she always feel like she and Natsume lived in two parallel worlds that sometimes touched, but never really intersected?

The desire to know the truth burned within her. She had a sudden and desperate urge to follow him, despite every bone in her body suggesting she shouldn't because it could be something dangerous, not to mention an imposition on privacy. But surely, if her theories about Natsume were wrong and it was nothing out of the ordinary, then she wouldn't be putting herself into danger at all, or imposing on his privacy. And if instead, her suspicions were confirmed, well, she had known anyway, right? It was a logical fallacy, but she managed to convince herself.

Her decision made, she ran into the woods in the direction Natsume had gone. He had not gone far, and finding him was easy. She maintained a large distance, hiding behind trees. In the moonlight, she could see that Nyanko-sensei had appeared from somewhere, and was on Natsume's shoulder. It seemed like Natsume was talking to him, but from her distance she couldn't hear anything.

Yuriko peeked out from behind her tree. Her heart rate doubled as a twig snapped loudly under her feet. For a moment she feared that the cat had spotted her, as he jumped off Natsume and began to trot a few steps in her direction with a glint in his eye. However, Nyanko-sensei did not continue, and eventually went back the path he came.

Natsume tore a piece of paper from a green notebook, folded it and put it in his mouth. His hair rustled in the soft breeze, gleaming silver in the moonlight. Her heart thumping, Yuriko went as close as she dared so she could hear him.

His hands were together, almost as if he was praying. "Amefurikozo, I return your name to you, please accept it." The paper in Natsume's mouth disappeared. Yuriko shivered as the wind suddenly intensified.

Things were quiet for a few moments, during which Natsume stood stock still with his eyes closed. Then he grabbed Nyanko-sensei and pulled on his cheeks. "Some bodyguard you are. Where have you been all this time, while the little spirit followed me around? I couldn't do anything because Yuriko was with me."

It seemed like Nyanko-sensei replied to Natsume in a haughty tone of voice, but it was muffled somehow. Was she imagining it? Although, if Nyanko-sensei could talk, she couldn't say she would be surprised.

Her blonde-haired friend was pointing at something in front of him now. "And you spirit, you should have known better than to nag me when I was with humans. Did you really think I would have been able to return your name then?"

There was a pause, and Natsume put his hands in front of his face in a disarming gesture. "Okay, okay, it's fine, don't cry. It's alright."

Afraid that Natsume or Nyanko-sensei would stumble upon her, Yuriko stealthily made her way back. She had heard more than enough anyway.

The ache in her heart refused to go away. It wasn't the confirmation about Natsume's involvement in the spiritual world that upset her; she always had strong suspicions about that already. It was the realization that she barely knew Natsume. Back there, he had felt like a different person. Commanding, assertive, and powerful, in a sharp contrast to how he appeared to her a daily basis. Well, it wasn't that he was timid in normal life, but he certainly didn't have such a commanding presence. He was contemplative, thoughtful, and so unimposing he could easily fade into the background. Which one was the real Natsume?

What really bothered her was that she was not important enough for him to shed his mask around her, or share his secret with her. He was still completely out of her reach, with the distance to his parallel world seeming even farther than before.

That night, Yuriko barely slept. She stayed up most of the night and drowned herself in her art.

* * *

**Notes: **

Amefurikozo is a Japanese rain spirit that takes the form of a child.

I made up the name Kirigaya Yuki, but notice the (slight) resemblance to the author of Natsume Yuujinchou, Midorikawa Yuki :P.

Reviews make me happy :).


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, a random person, Mana, mnxmnxr, and the guests! I appreciate the support very much!

Special thanks to biribirichan, whose amazing feedback helped me a lot!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Seated outside the student center, Tanuma Kaname carefully munched his onigiri, while simultaneously warding Nyanko-sensei off from the rest of his bentou box. Natsume had left to go to an interview for a part-time job earlier, so Nyanko-sensei had decided to remain with Tanuma to relieve his boredom. The presence of pets on campus grounds was frowned upon, but what did the cat care?

Tanuma's thoughts drifted to Natsume, who was looking quite dashing today in his interview clothes. Natsume would disagree, but Tanuma thought that his friend was quite good-looking, albeit in a somewhat feminine way. He was sure he would hit it off with the ladies if he was slightly less awkward around them, although girls were probably the last thing on his mind. Tanuma remembered with a smile about how Natsume had blushed the time in high school when Nishimura had informed him, somewhat jealously, of his female fan club. Natsume was convinced that his friends were teasing him, but he failed to realize how much girls loved mysterious boys.

A small sigh across the table made Tanuma look up. Yuriko, who was sitting opposite him, had been drawing intently on her sketchbook for a while. She seemed displeased about something though, with her brow slightly furrowed. Every so often she would look up and… Wait, was she drawing him?!

"Tanuma, hold that pose for a second." To his great dismay, she took out her phone and took a picture of him. "Ugh, you changed your expression. Just sit straight and pretend I'm not taking a picture, okay?" She snapped another photo.

Red-faced, Tanuma asked, "Yuriko, why are you drawing me?"

"What do you mean, why? You're sitting beautifully and you have great posture." Tanuma turned, if possible, even redder. "Plus, the scenery behind you is just what I need. Don't worry, you'll barely be recognizable in my drawing. I'm just using bits and pieces, not actually drawing you. In fact, if you see the character, you'll probably be insulted, so don't even bother trying to find out what it turns out to be."

"That's alright then, I guess." He wouldn't admit it out loud but he was flattered to be used as a "model" for her work. He had a thought. "Have you used Natsume and Kitamoto too?"

"More of Natsume than Kitamoto, but yeah."

"What about Ponta- uh, that is, Nyangoro-sensei?"

Yuriko scoffed as if to say, _that ugly thing?_

Tanuma laughed at her expression. "I'm glad you think he's as ugly as I do. I think the only person who thinks he's cute is Taki. Still haven't figured out why-" The rest of his sentence was cut off as Nyanko-sensei jumped on him. "Ahhh, Ponta, stop scratching me! Here, I'll give you the rest of my onigiri." The cat suddenly became docile as he happily munched the offered rice ball.

Tanuma breathed a sigh of relief and faced Yuriko. "I've heard a lot about Nishimura from Kitamoto, but not much about Taki. What is she like?" Yuriko asked thoughtfully as she erased some lines from her drawing.

Tanuma blinked. That was such an odd question. How did one describe Taki? "Uh… I don't really know how to describe her."

Yuriko shrugged. "Whatever comes to your head."

"She seems quiet at first but talks a lot if you get to know her. She's practical and thoughtful, but her personality totally changes around cute things." He looked at Nyanko-sensei and smirked. "Or what she thinks is cute anyway."

Oh, how he wished all his friends were in the same university. Nishimura and Taki were in Kyushu, which wasn't that far by train, but it was hard to plan anything with them in the thick of the semester. Train tickets were also quite expensive, and Tanuma usually used any spare money that he had to visit his dad at home. His dad had grown quite frail over the years, and it always made him so happy when he visited.

He particularly missed Taki because, as the only other person who knew Natsume's secret, they could always put their heads together if Natsume was in trouble and needed help. He worried about Natsume a lot more now that Taki wasn't in the same city.

There was also the fact that Taki knew things about him that even Natsume didn't know, because he hadn't had the courage to tell the other boy. Before, he used to get very upset when Natsume took on incredible burdens by himself, keeping quiet about it so as to spare him from it. Tanuma would find out after the fact if it made Natsume sick or cursed or worse, but he was sure there were a lot of instances when he never realized at all. He hadn't known, back then, how to talk to Natsume about it, and that merely aggravated his turmoil. But Taki noticed and asked Tanuma about it, and being a patient listener, she had become his confidante. Tanuma didn't have problems communicating with Natsume any longer, because they had grown a lot closer over the years, especially after the Omibashira incident when they swore to be honest with each other. However, he would always be grateful to Taki for allowing him to make the first step. She had a special place in his heart.

The scratching of graphite on paper brought Tanuma to the present. "I'm sure you'll meet both Taki and Nishimura soon," he said out loud to Yuriko.

"Yeah… I'd like to meet them." Yuriko had looked at him curiously while he was talking about Taki, but now she had gone back to her drawing. The conversation fizzled out because Yuriko did not add anything and Tanuma did not know what else to say.

Tanuma sighed. Conversation still wasn't his strong point, even though he had tried hard to improve over the years. He was pretty good with his friends now, but he struggled with Yuriko for some reason, despite making an extra effort to get to know her better since she was one of Natsume's oldest friends. Perhaps he was just trying too hard?

He remembered how he had tried too hard with Natsume when they first became friends. His friendship with the other boy had been sacred to him, because he had never felt such a strong connection with anyone else before, and he had not wanted to mess it up. He also wanted to treat the secret that Natsume had shared with him with care. But in the process of worrying too much about it, he had unconsciously started treading around Natsume as if he was fragile china, which only served to create a barrier between them. It was when Taki identified the problem that Tanuma let go a little, and his friendship with Natsume became all the stronger because of it.

With Yuriko, the reason he was trying so hard to get to know her was for Natsume's sake. It was obvious that Natsume cared a lot about her, and vice versa, and he didn't want him to feel that his high school friends were isolating Yuriko from their group just because they didn't know her that well. Tanuma ran a hand through his hair in frustration; he was definitely thinking about this too much.

To distract himself from his pointless thoughts, Tanuma decided to do some homework while he waited for Natsume to return. As he rummaged around his bag, Yuriko spoke up, "Sorry, Tanuma. I know I'm not being very sociable. I just have a lot to do before the competition, and I remembered something I'd forgotten."

Tanuma was surprised at the apology, but felt happier. Clearly he had been worrying over nothing. "No, it's okay. I understand." He smiled slightly. He realized that while Yuriko could sometimes get lost in her own world, she usually tried to be considerate.

"I know!" Yuriko suddenly exclaimed, stomping her palm with a fist. "Now that I'm done with the section I was working on, I'll give you some tips on manga drawing!"

_Crap._ How would he get out of this? Yuriko was a little overzealous with her art sometimes. If she got a hold of him once… "That's not necessary. You focus on your work. I was planning on catching up on some homework anyway."

"No I insist! Who knows when it will be useful to you? Plus, it'll be helpful to me to because you can look at things with fresh eyes!"

Tanuma did not have the heart to tell her that the possibility of him ever needing to draw manga was about as likely as her one day becoming a priest. He supposed he was willing to help her out though. "Okay, I guess…"

Yuriko moved to the other side of the table beside Tanuma. "Okay, so one of the most important aspects is perspective. If you draw from the same angle all the time, not only will it be boring, the reader will also miss out on the detail of the surroundings. Plus, you'll be limiting your artwork." She pointed at a panel. "So why do you think I drew the character from this angle? Do you think it makes sense in terms of what's happening?"

Yuriko commented on different features of her panels and asked for Tanuma's opinion on them until Natsume came back, who was bemused at the sight of the two of them poring over Yuriko's art.

* * *

The next day, Yuriko walked through the concrete courtyard after class, her mind in a buzz. She had been distracted most of the day by thoughts of her competition entry, which she had temporarily titled Bygone Days. There was a lot to do before the deadline.

The high school theme of the competition was not a difficult one, but the commonplace genre made it hard to steer clear of clichéd themes or overused tropes. To stand out in these competitions, you had to do something unusual, and she had decided to do that by throwing in some supernatural elements. She had no shortage of inspiration for the supernatural after all, courtesy of Natsume. She only prayed that not too many contenders had the same idea.

The protagonist in her story was a deceased teenage girl who, unable to move on from her past life, decided to remain at her high school as a do-gooder. No-one could see her, so of course, things get complicated quickly. What Yuriko was struggling with the most wasn't the plot; it was the delivery of her story through her art. There was a lot to think about: setting, scene angles, background scenery, character designs, tone, the list went on. She had been drawing for as long as she could remember, but the pressure of putting together a full-fledged 45-page manga within the deadline was overwhelming. She felt out of her depth.

"Yuriko?" She was abruptly shaken out of her thoughts by Natsume's voice. She had not realized that he was still beside her after they left class.

Since the incident last week, when she had discovered Natsume's secret, she had spent countless hours thinking about spirits and trying to wrap her head around the confirmation of their existence. It was a useless battle though, because she didn't have anyone to answer her questions. She certainly wasn't going to ask Natsume about it directly; the consequences of that could be disastrous.

However, contemplating about the spiritual world constantly day and night (because it refused to leave her thoughts) had initially caused her to lose focus on the task at hand: completing Bygone Days. When she worked on her stories, she had to completely immerse herself in their world. Otherwise, the quality of her work dropped drastically. But because she kept thinking about the existence of youkai, which last week's events practically confirmed, it seeped into her work.

She had finally gotten back on track this week, with the threat of the looming deadline snapping her back to her senses. Complete immersion in her manga was completely necessary at this point, because it was crunch time. The last few days she had stopped thinking about everything else, which included youkai and Natsume, and regrettably, also her schoolwork. While it allowed her to get the best output possible, the drawback was that it made her absent-minded and made her forget about the world around her.

"Sorry, Takashi-kun. I was spaced out. What did you say?"

He touched his too-long bangs, "I was wondering if you had any time to cut my hair in the next few days."

"Oh right. I forgot that it's about that time."

"You don't have to if you're busy. I could cut it myself this time."

He always said this. Every time. As if cutting his hair was such a burden on her. She would have thought he would get the hint after the seven or eight times she had cut his hair. She poked his cheek, "How many times do I have to tell you I'm happy do it no matter how busy I am?"

Looking at Natsume now, and how tentative he was around people, she felt like laughing at herself for being upset last week that he didn't share his secret with her. How could she have possibly been upset at this boy who tiptoed around people, even those close to him, because he was afraid that one day they would reject or leave him, all because of his powers? She remembered the ostracized boy from her middle school days. The boy who barely anyone spoke to; who read books alone in the school courtyard during breaks instead of joining everyone else; who spent his time running away from spirits and people alike; who was called a weirdo and a liar by people who hadn't even met him, including Yuriko's own mother. All because of his ability to see spirits, an ability which people in their infinite wisdom of making hasty judgments about things that differ from the norm, never tried to understand. If she was in Natsume's position, would she be able to talk about it? Talk about something that he had been rejected his whole life for?

Really, what right did she have to be upset? His ability was not about her, it was about him, and it was his secret to share or keep. He would tell her when he was ready, wouldn't he? And if she was a true friend, she would support him no matter what, whether he told her or not. If she couldn't do that much, then how would she be any different from all those people who rejected Natsume just because he was different? But, she hoped he did tell her… She wanted to understand him better.

Yuriko gently pulled Natsume's sleeve. "You want me to cut it now? I have some time."

* * *

While Yuriko cut his hair, Natsume was looking curiously at the papers strewn on the floor near her desk.

Yuriko was embarrassed. "I know it looks like a mess, but there's a really good reason for it. I got stuck with my art this morning, so I spread the panels out to look at it all together. "

"Did it help?"

"A little, but I'm still running dry." She sighed. "I've been thinking about it so much it's driving me nuts honestly…"

"Why don't you take a break? You still have a month, right?"

"Yeah… maybe today, after your haircut, I'll go get some new manga for inspiration." She glanced at her handiwork on the floor. Would she really be able to finish it in a month? There was so much she needed to work on…

In her distracted state, she didn't notice her hand slip. Natsume yelped in pain as the scissors nicked his ear.

"Takashi-kun, I'm so sorry!" That was so stupid! Yuriko berated herself. How could she have been so careless when she was doing something so delicate? Thankfully, the damage had been minimal, but it could have been much worse. "I'm going to go get some ointment for your ear."

Natsume grabbed her hand as she made to move. "It's fine, Yuriko, really. It hardly even touched my ear. I was just surprised, that's all."

Yuriko nodded, "I won't get distracted again, I promise." Her eyes wandered over to Natsume's hand, which was still holding hers. It was warm…

Natsume flushed and dropped her hand immediately. Slightly subdued, Yuriko went back to cutting his hair.

When she was done, Natsume looked at the papers on the floor again and asked, "When you're done with your story you'll let me read it, right?"

Yuriko smiled instantly. Like most artists, she loved it when people wanted to see her work. "Sure. Do you want to see the name?"

"The…name?"

"It's like the storyboard, or outline of each panel, where you hash out the plot. It's usually very basic drawings, stick figures and the like, although mine are a little more detailed." Yuriko sat down at her desk and motioned him towards her.

As Natsume approached, he passed by the mirror and let out an exclamation. Yuriko looked up. "What's the matter? You don't like your haircut?"

Natsume was quick to refute her assumption, "No, no, that's not it. It just looks so different. How did you do that?"

"Sorry, I should have told you what I was doing. I cut it a little shorter to make your natural spikes stand out."

"Don't worry about it." He stumbled with the words a little bit. "I-I really like it, Yuriko."

Yuriko smiled, her cheeks turning warm. "Thanks, Takashi-kun."

When Yuriko handed him the name, Natsume hesitated, "Maybe it's better if I wait to read it. I don't want to ruin the enjoyment of the actual thing."

Yuriko's face fell. "Well, I guess you have a point. I already sounded out the plot with Junko and Mayuri. Oh, and also Tanuma yesterday. So, I don't think I need help with identifying plot holes or anything." Then she perked up. "I know! Let me show you the title page. That's in color, and the only thing I've completely finalized." She extracted the page from between polyester sheets in her storage box, and handed it to him.

It was a side profile of a beautiful young girl with long silver hair and blue markings under her eyes. She was wearing a simple white kimono, and standing beside an open window that overlooked a courtyard full of students. The girl was smiling, but she had a certain hardness to her expression. She reminded Natsume of the mirror spirit that had taken over Tanuma's body once. While he looked at the drawing, Yuriko explained the basic premise of the plot to him.

"I didn't really get inspired by a particular work, but you could say that some of the plot is reminiscent of parts from _Bleach_, _Angel Beats_, _Full Moon wo Sagashite_, _Mushi-shi_, and _Noragami_."

"Uh… I don't know what those are."

Yuriko pushed her glasses farther up her nose, and gave an exasperated sigh. "At times like this you're supposed to smile and nod and pretend you know what I'm talking about. Idiot. Tanuma is much better at this." Natsume laughed.

Natsume brought the paper closer to his eyes; there was a lot of detail in the drawing, even in the background, which you could easily miss at first glance. "Is the plot very complex?"

"I wouldn't say so. The story is pretty simple. The emphasis is on the characters. My style was influenced a lot by Inoue Takehiko actually."

Natsume opened his mouth but Yuriko silenced him before he had a chance to say anything. "Yes, yes, you don't know who he is, which is totally shameful by the way. He's a legendary artist." Her eyes were shining with excitement. "And I actually had the chance to _meet_ him at an anime convention a few years ago! Can you believe that?!"

Natsume couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm. "That's amazing. You spoke to him?"

"Yep. And like any naïve amateur artist, I asked him the question he probably gets a million times: how do you make a good manga? You know what he said?" She paused and Natsume motioned her to continue. "He said the trick is, no matter how ordinary the plot, you have to do one of two things. The first is surprise the reader at every page. Because if the reader knows what is going to happen before they read it, why should they bother reading? The second is to invoke strong emotions, and make the reader identify with the characters. If you have one or both of these, you will have a good manga, regardless of whether it's popular or not. I've really taken his advice to heart."

"You follow his two rules?"

"The second one mainly. I'm not that good at surprises. My readers might not figure everything out, but there will never be earth-shattering revelations. That's just not my style. But the second one, yes. My focus is on the characters."

"Well, I hope you win the competition, Yuriko," Natsume said, smiling and handing her drawing back. She was really giving it everything she had.

Yuriko smiled back at him. She was so happy that Natsume was taking an interest in the manga world, and her work especially. In fact, as an avid manga supporter and aspiring artist herself, it was her duty to capitalize on it and make him into a convert! "Hey, you want to join me when I go to the manga shop after this?" The closest store that had a big collection, called Animate, was slightly far out, but she already knew that he wouldn't refuse.

* * *

Yuriko completed her purchases at the counter and looked around for Natsume. She had been so enraptured by the manga she was reading at the store that she had lost track of him at some point.

Having scanned the remainder of the store, she looked through the glass doors. There he was, standing on the sidewalk! He was talking to someone? But there didn't seem to be anyone around.

Then, she noticed a little brown fox in front of Natsume. Surely a real fox would not be in the city, and more importantly Natsume wouldn't be talking to it. But if it was a spirit, why could Yuriko see it?

The fox ran off as soon as Yuriko approached Natsume, who put a small green bundle quickly into his pocket. He looked incredibly happy, Yuriko noted. Was the fox responsible? Deciding against asking Natsume about it, Yuriko pretended she hadn't seen anything. But she filed the incident away in her brain for future reference. She was mentally collecting a list of things she had to ask Natsume about when he finally told her about his powers.

Natsume gave her a questioning gaze as she handed him a small shopping bag from the store. She said, "It's from me. Open it."

Natsume gaped at the first item. It was a small figurine of a maneki neko that looked remarkably like Nyanko-sensei. Yuriko laughed at Natsume's expression. "When I saw that, I had to buy it, couldn't resist. It's for Nyanko-sensei. Think he'll like it?"

"He'll probably pretend he hates it, but secretly love it. He's such a narcissistic cat after all," Natsume grinned.

Natsume took out the other two remaining items from the bag as Yuriko explained, "The manga is for you." She tapped the manga on top. "That's the first volume of _Fullmetal_ _Alchemist_. It's an absolute classic that I'm sure you'll like! I have never met someone who didn't like the series. The other one is the manga you were looking at earlier, the one about the no-name god who fights spirits."

She panicked a bit when he didn't say anything, but just looked at the manga in his hands. Was she being too pushy about getting him to like manga? "Y-you don't have to like it, you know. I just thought it would be nice to introduce you to the world of manga, since I'm always talking about it. Umm, if you don't like them you can give it to me. I don't own_ Noragami_ in tankobon volumes. As for _Fullmetal_, that's a special anniversary edition I don't own either." Wait, that made it sound like she had ulterior motives. "N-Not that that's why I bought them! I bought them for you! So you don't have to give it to me if you do like them-"

Natsume interrupted her. "Thank you, Yuriko. You picked them out for me after all. I'm sure they're great." He smiled and ruffled her hair, making her blush.

On the bus journey back, Natsume shared some berries with her. They were wrapped in leaves, and Yuriko immediately recognized them as the little bundle he had put in his pocket when she came out of the bookstore. He said they were special berries given to him by a "friend". Yuriko could attest to the fact that their taste was out of this world.

Throughout the journey, Yuriko rambled about manga and the best techniques and artists, but Natsume didn't seem to mind.

* * *

**End Notes:**

Next chapter: Taki and Nishimura visit!

Inoue Takehiko is the manga artist of Slam Dunk and Vagabond. The advice about making a good manga is some of his own advice combined with stuff other manga authors have said. Animate is an actual manga shop, which is about 40 minutes away from Fukuoka University.

The relationship between Yuriko and Tanuma, I imagine to be sort of tense, particularly because of Tanuma's awkward nature. However, it is getting better as they spend more time with one another. There's a slight irony in their relationship in the sense that Yuriko is perhaps a little awed/envious of the fact that Tanuma is so close to Natsume, and possibly even knows his secret. On the other hand, Tanuma, who is very vulnerable about Natsume, feels slightly threatened/awed by Yuriko because she knows Natsume the longest. They both like each other reasonably well though, and despite feeling awkward around each other, want to be better friends, for Natsume's sake at least.

My interpretation of Yuriko's personality: Yuriko is kind of blunt about what she says out loud because she doesn't really think too much before saying them (eg. when she commented on Natsume's hair in the anime). In this story, she can also be oblivious sometimes when she's drawing because she gets sucked into her manga world. Her redeeming quality is that she watches people so much for her artwork that she is intuitive about people's thoughts and feelings. From the episode she was featured in the anime, I also think she is considerate about people. She has a strong sense of fairness and justice, and if she sees something that needs to be fixed (even if it's from her own mistake such as when she made the insensitive comment about Natsume's hair) she will take great pains to correct it.

If you read my story, and liked it, even a little, please take a few minutes to review. I greatly appreciate constructive feedback.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: We've reached about midpoint in the story, so you could say this is the climax (in a way). The real climax is next chapter (potentially). Enjoy!

Thanks so much for all your reviews, Fisca Rinata, zundial, mnxretana, a random person and roserocksrapidly.

* * *

The phone ringtone cut through the silence of the room as Yuriko got up to answer it, slightly startled. She had locked herself up in her room this weekend to put the final touches on her manga, which she had to submit tomorrow. In preparation, she had stocked up on food in her room, so she didn't even have to leave for meals. The sudden human contact was jarring.

She picked up the phone, taken aback at the fact that it was Natsume calling her, "Hey, Takashi-kun. Something wrong? You rarely call." He had an inherent dislike for phones, only calling when it was absolutely necessary. Usually when he needed her for something, he would either find her, or just wait till the next time he saw her.

He sounded startled. "No, no, nothing's wrong really…"

"Then, what's up?"

"Taki and Nishimura are visiting. They came this morning. They wanted to surprise us, I guess."

"Oh, wow! You should have told me sooner!" Yuriko exclaimed. She had heard so much about those two that she had been waiting for a chance to meet them for a while now. But why was Natsume being so weird about it? "That's not what you're calling about is it?"

Natsume hesitated. "The truth is Taki fell into the river when she was walking with Tanuma and me at the riverbank."

"Wait, are you serious?" The river was quite deep, and had strong currents. It had a history of people drowning in it. "She's fine, right? How did something like that even happen?!"

There was a pause. "Uh, the bank was muddy from the rain yesterday," Natsume said slowly. "But I was calling to ask if she could shower at your dorm since it's all guys here." He sounded slightly awkward now. "I don't really have a suitable change of clothes for her either…"

"Yeah, of course! I hope you weren't even thinking of making her shower at the boy's dorm." Yuriko shuddered. "It's full of perverts!"

Natsume sounded relieved. "Thanks a lot, Yuriko, I appreciate it. I didn't want to bother you when you have your submission tomorrow, but I don't know any other girls that well."

Her cheeks colored slightly at the way he phrased that. "Should I go get Taki-san from somewhere?"

His tone was sheepish. "Uhh, about that, I already sent her to your dorm, so she's waiting outside…"

She gave an exaggerated sigh, "So you weren't really asking me."

Natsume stuttered. "Ah, um, I didn't think you'd actually say no! You wouldn't do that. Sorry, Yuriko. I shouldn't have assumed… " He was rambling a little. "I can ask Taki to come back, and um, manage in my dorm somehow. Tanuma and I can guard the bathroom-"

Yuriko burst into a fit of giggles. He was so easy to tease. "I'm just kidding, you idiot, I don't mind helping Taki-san at all. I was desperately in need of a break anyway. I'll talk to you later."

* * *

Yuriko observed the blonde haired girl curiously as she dried her hair. When she had asked Taki about how she had slipped into the river, her response was, if possible, even vaguer than Natsume's. _"I don't really know what happened, honestly. I was so surprised!"_

She thought about the implications of the incident. Clearly, Natsume's vagueness meant that it was something supernatural again. He was good at lying, possibly due to perfecting the art over the years, but Yuriko was always on the watch for these types of things. But Taki also seemed to be hiding something. Then, was it possible that she knew that Natsume could see spirits? What about Tanuma, who had been with them as well? If not his best friend, then he was probably the closest Natsume had to one. Sometimes they seemed to communicate even without speaking, especially when strange things happened to Natsume. If Taki knew, then surely Tanuma was in on it as well?

While she had told herself she would be patient until Natsume told her, she felt a little irritated at the prospect that Taki and Tanuma both knew. Natsume had confided in both of them; she was still in the dark. She shook her head. What was she thinking? These were the friends that supported him throughout high school. Was it surprising that they knew?

"Kyahhh! SO cutee!" Taki suddenly exclaimed. Yuriko blinked. Taki was squeezing her Kappa stuffed toy delightedly. Tanuma had mentioned Taki's weakness for cute things, but it was hilarious seeing it in action.

After Taki recovered from cuteness overload, she happily told Yuriko about how nice it was to see all her friends again. The last time she had seen them was during summer break, which was several months ago now.

"Yeah, I've also been hoping for a chance to meet you and Nishimura-kun," said Yuriko. "I guess I kind of feel like I know you guys already, since I've heard so much about you."

"They talk about us?" Taki asked, smiling.

"Yep. I've heard dozens of stories from Kitamoto about all the times Nishimura-kun's gotten in trouble at school." Yuriko smirked. "Don't tell Nishimura-kun though. They're hilarious, but most of them aren't flattering."

"Hehehe. Sa-" She stumbled here for some odd reason. "N-Nishimura-kun gets in trouble a lot because he blurts out things without thinking."

"We'd probably get along very well then. I've lost track of all the times I've done that!" Yuriko shook her head darkly as she remembered the time she had inadvertently revealed Junko's crush on a boy she liked. It had turned out well, because he liked her also, but her best friend had been furious with her for weeks.

"Any embarrassing stories about me?" Taki's eyes were closed, contentedly resting her head on top of the kappa plushy.

"Well… Tanuma told me how you like cute things, and about your weakness for Nyanko-sensei, despite how ugly he is. That led to the cat scratching Tanuma of course. I swear that cat is so smart."

Taki laughed. "Tanuma-kun likes to tease me a lot."

That didn't surprise Yuriko. While usually reserved, Tanuma lost his shell when he was talking about Taki, much the same way that he was completely relaxed when he was around Natsume. Moreover, since she had gotten to know Tanuma much better over the last month, she had the distinct feeling that… "I'm pretty sure Tanuma likes Taki, but he doesn't fully realize himself."

It was when Taki dropped the Kappa toy and looked stricken that Yuriko realized she had said that out aloud. Mortified, she covered her mouth as Taki stammered, "W-why do you think that, Ogata-san? Did Tanuma-kun say something?"

Yuriko shook her head vehemently, "No, no, absolutely not! He didn't say anything at all. I think I phrased myself badly! I just think he respects you and cares for you a lot!" It was one thing getting in trouble herself, but she didn't want her thoughtlessness to affect Tanuma. Gahhhh, she was so stupid! She could just hear Junko berating her for having such a big mouth. Apparently her bad habit of talking out loud had followed her into college.

When Taki did not speak, Yuriko started to fret. "Taki-san, I said something unnecessary, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." But she was confused about why Taki was so upset. She would have expected embarrassment, blushing, perhaps denial, but not the downright dismay that Taki was displaying. She was no expert on romance, but didn't girls normally appreciate it when they were an object of someone's affections, especially someone as decent and good-looking as Tanuma? Wouldn't she be pleased if it was her? She was clumsy and awkward in high school (still was), and as such, she had never been "confessed" to by a guy. That had led to a great deal of insecurity because her friends Junko and Mayuri always seemed to have one guy or the other toiling for their affections. So, what was she missing here? Damn her inquisitive (or 'prying' if you wanted to be blunt) nature. She wanted to know so badly.

When she glanced at Taki, she looked so downcast that Yuriko had to apologize again. "I'm really sorry for making you upset, Taki-san."

Taki shook her head, "It's not your fault, Ogata-san."

"Did something happen between you and Tanuma?" She hoped she wasn't pushing Taki's boundaries too much.

Taki was silent for a few moments. Then, so quietly that Yuriko almost didn't catch it, she said, "Not exactly… The truth is that I'm dating Nishimura-kun right now."

"W-What? You're dating Nishimura-kun?" Yuriko repeated. She hadn't misheard had she? But something clicked. Earlier, Taki had stumbled over Nishimura's name, and it had almost sounded like she was about to call him something else. Yuriko couldn't recall exactly, but Nishimura's first name was Satoshi or Satoru or something like that, wasn't it? No-one else in their group addressed him as such, so perhaps Taki had stopped herself so as not to be conspicuous. She also had another vague memory of Kitamoto mentioning that Nishimura had a crush on Taki in high school. He had been laughing about it but perhaps there had been more to the story…

But even so, Taki's revelation completely threw her off. She was sure that the rest of the gang had no idea either, which was incredibly strange. Yuriko earnestly grasped Taki's hands. "Taki-san, this might be a selfish request, but please tell me how you started dating. I would love to hear about it. I just… can't believe that the others don't know about this. Why don't they know? What happened?"

Taki didn't resist. She said that part of the reason they had come down was to tell everyone any way, and that Nishimura had probably told the guys by now.

* * *

According to Taki, during their final year of high school, Nishimura asked her out, but she turned him down because she didn't see him that way. She kept it to herself because she didn't want to embarrass Nishimura. Grateful, he kept quiet about it as well. The others never suspected anything because, while Nishimura had a crush on Taki for the longest time, they had thought it was just one of his passing fancies. He had numerous crushes after all. Everyone had been busy with studying for college entrance exams at that time, so it wasn't that hard to hide. The months passed, and after a time, it was almost like nothing had happened.

But then, by a strange work of fate Taki and Nishimura both ended up at Kyushu University. It wasn't that Nishimura _planned _to be in the same university as Taki. Kyudai was one of the National Seven Japanese Universities, the best and the most selective. You didn't plan to go there, you either made it or you didn't. He had just been very serious about attending a top college and had worked his butt off for it. From bits of information she had gathered before from Kitamoto, and from what Taki said, Yuriko pieced together that Nishimura's family was a very high achieving one, and that a lot of pressure was put on him to get into a top college. Unlike Taki, who was a star student, Nishimura was mostly mediocre in in his studies. However, he started attending cram school for college exams from Year 1 of high school, and by Year 3, was taking about twice the amount of cram school classes as most other people in their class. Cram school was expensive, so in their rural town, a lot of people didn't even attend. In the city, people had the attitude that your future was doomed unless you attended a good college, but there was no such pressure in their town. However, Nishimura's family spared no expense.

"He was so nice to me even after I rejected him, Ogata-san. I felt horrible. So I decided to give him a chance, and we have been dating since then." She smiled, "I don't regret my decision at all."

Yuriko smiled at Taki. She was trying to be happy for her, but she felt her heart-breaking for her other friend. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that Tanuma had feelings for her. And he hadn't even known until today that she was dating someone else. "How come you guys didn't tell the others?"

Taki blushed cutely. "Ah, we wanted to tell them in person. We started dating a few weeks after summer break, and we haven't seen them since."

"And none of them have a clue! What a load of dense idiots." Yuriko pushed her glasses up exasperatedly.

The other girl laughed. "Well, none of them have much dating experience. The sum total of their experience is two weeks, and that's all Kitamoto-kun."

They spent almost an hour laughing and talking after that, until it was time for Taki to meet back with Nishimura and take the train.

"Taki-san, I'm so sorry for bringing up Tanuma like that earlier. It was tactless of me," Yuriko said as they walked out of her dorm. "Please forgive me." She bowed her head.

Taki shook her head. "No, I'm really glad you did. Tanuma-kun is an important friend, and I don't want to say anything insensitive around him." She paused. "The truth is that, I liked Tanuma-kun for a bit too in high school, but I didn't think he reciprocated my feelings. Then, when Nishimura-kun asked me out, my guilt at rejecting him drove all those feelings out. But I'm glad you told me… even though I am happy now, it gives me some sort of closure."

This was too sad. "I was exaggerating anyways. Tanuma-kun holds you in high regard, but that doesn't mean he has romantic feelings for you necessarily," she lied.

"Thank you, Ogata-san," said Taki, smiling.

Yuriko clasped Taki's hands briefly, also smiling. "Please call me Yuriko, Taki-san. All my friends do." She really liked Taki. She was so open, honest, and easy to talk to. It was a refreshing change from the rest of the group.

Having joined the others now, Yuriko looked around, "Where's Takashi-kun?"

Tanuma scratched his head, "He had to rush off suddenly, didn't say why. Taki, he apologized for not seeing you off but said he was going to visit you guys sometime soon." Yuriko did not miss the meaningful look Tanuma sent Taki. Something supernatural again?

Taki nodded, "Oh it's okay, I understand."

Tanuma flinched as Nishimura took Taki's hand cheerfully, "Let's head to the train station?" Taki looked uncomfortable but nodded.

Oblivious, Nishimura released Taki and turned to her, "I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to properly get to know each other, Ogata-san." He winked and whispered in her ear. "But take care of your Takashi-kun for us, okay?"

Red as a tomato, Yuriko watched Taki and Nishimura, with Kitamoto accompanying them, walk away. Nishimura was some character all right. Then she noticed the expression on Tanuma's face.

She slung an arm around her friend's shoulders, "I'm sorry, Tanuma."

Tanuma feigned ignorance, "For?"

"You're a great guy, and she might not be the one for you, but I'm sure things will work out for you eventually."

Tanuma sighed and looked straight ahead at their retreating backs, "He realized he liked her before me, and acted on it. That means he liked her that much more. What matters to me is that they are both happy."

Yuriko pumped him on the back. "That's the spirit! You wanna get something to eat?"

His face broke into a small smile, "Sure."

While it didn't matter anymore, if either Taki or Tanuma had been more forthcoming about their feelings in high school, things might be different now. Well, things didn't always play out the way you wanted them to. Life took its twists and turns. However, Yuriko refused to let a similar scenario occur for her, because she was not one to live in regret.

She was hopelessly in love with Natsume Takashi, the mysterious sandy-haired boy from her youth and the smiling, enigmatic young man he had turned out to be. There was no denying it now. Whether he accepted it or not, for better or for worse, she would tell him.

* * *

Natsume was surprised when Yuriko showed up at his dorm room the next evening.

He walked back immediately to his desk, "Sorry, Yuriko. I have to finish this assignment first. I've had the most annoying luck yesterday and today. It was nice to have Taki and Nishimura over, but since then I've had every interruption possible. I'm tired, irritable, have three things due tomorrow, and really just want to be left alone."

Yuriko's eyes were wide, and Natsume realized how he had sounded. He deflated, "I'm sorry, none of that was directed at you. Will you give me about twenty minutes to finish this and then we'll talk? It will take me longer if I get distracted in between."

She nodded and took a seat on the corner at the other end of the room, resting against the wall, "Take your time."

It wasn't that he was intentionally trying to be unkind to Yuriko, it was just one of those days that he cursed the fact that he had spiritual powers. The rather powerful river youkai that had caused Taki to fall into the water yesterday had hounded him at work today. It caused the library to have a power outage, which in turn made the book tagging system malfunction. He had to deal with the youkai _and_ work extra hours because of the emergency, but even after he got home, he had not gotten a reprieve. He was forced to return names, because about a dozen fledgling youkai searching for him had finally located his college dorm. He found them waiting in his room when he returned, with his useless cat bodyguard nowhere in sight. He would really need to get better at creating seals to prevent entry to his room. As evidenced by the failure today, seals weren't Nyanko-sensei's strong point. Perhaps he would get some more instructions on them from Hiiragi and Natori. It wasn't that he minded returning names. He just preferred to be able to control when he did it. Plus, some youkai were incredibly pushy. He was so incredibly tired…

A few minutes later, Natsume thought about how selfish he was being to Yuriko. She had been busy too. "You submitted your one-shot right? So you're not in a hurry?"

"Right." She didn't seem to be drawing, but she was observing him in the way that she usually did when she was using people as a muse. She had been fascinated by Tanuma lately, to his friend's great discomfort. Natsume was uncomfortable too in the beginning, but he had resigned himself to it by now. He supposed it was gratifying in its own way.

"Do you want something to draw on to pass the time?"

"I have my sketchbook with me, so don't worry. You're wasting time, finish your work. Where's Nyanko-sensei, by the way?"

Natsume sighed. "That idiot cat probably went out drin- I mean, he went out." He forgot that she didn't know the truth about Nyanko-sensei sometimes.

But by the time he had finished his work, and looked back at Yuriko, she had fallen asleep with her head leaning against the wall, her sketchbook in front of her.

He sighed as he went to her. He noticed dark circles around her eyes, and the haggardness of her face. She must have been up late putting finishing touches on her manga, perhaps even pulled an all-nighter, which she had mentioned she might need to do. Why had he ignored her in favor of his homework? Weren't his friends far more important that his grades? Guilt gripped him.

With her glasses askew, her reddish brown curls splayed across her face, and drool coming out of her mouth, she looked adorably hapless. While she seemed to have fallen asleep before drawing anything, she had a pencil in her right hand. She was naturally left-handed but ambidextrous by practice. When he had asked about it once, she had told him that she learned to draw with both hands because she hated waiting for the page to dry to prevent smudges when using ink. It was simpler to work on another page while waiting for one side of the page to dry, but she had hated doing that, so she used both hands instead. Yuriko had explained that the characters got angry at her if she left them half-done, to Natsume's great amusement. But he had to admire her single-mindedness and drive when it came to her dream.

When he waved a hand in front of her face she didn't stir, and he didn't have the heart to wake her up. His stamina and strength were terrible, and he was incredibly tired today, but he could carry her back to her dorm. She deserved that much at least.

He tried to take the least populated routes as he carried her to the girl's dorm. While he could handle stares, whispers and rumors, because he had been for all his life, he didn't want that for Yuriko. Guys were technically not allowed at the girl's dorms late at night, but he had Yuriko's access cards, and he was pretty good at being stealthy. Upon reaching her room, he fished her key out of her pocket without dwelling too much on how intimate the situation was. Should he be glad or sorry that she was such a heavy sleeper?

He turned the bedside lamp on (her room wasn't in the best state today and he didn't want to trip) and tucked her in. As he took her glasses out of his pockets to carefully place them at her desk, his feet rustled against something on the ground.

He picked the piece of paper up and glanced at it briefly. In the center, there was a doodle of a boy that resembled Tanuma. Surrounding the image were scribbles of a story outline that made him raise his eyebrows. It said stuff like "upset with rejection from girl of dreams" and, "heartbroken moron travels for a few months", "comedic accounts of journey", "becomes artist". Embarrassed that he was imposing on Yuriko's privacy, he was about to place the paper on Yuriko's desk when a small note in the corner of the paper caught his eye. It said:

_Story inspired by Tanuma (and myself somewhat). I love Takashi so much. I need to find the courage to tell him._

Takashi meant… himself? His blood went cold.

* * *

Reviews greatly appreciated! This was a hard chapter to write, and I'm not sure if I portrayed Taki, Tanuma and Nishimura right, so please let me know your thoughts!

I did not mean for Tanuma to get heart-broken, I love him too much as a character to want that. But that part kind of wrote itself. It was an interesting dynamic to explore. In canon, on one hand, we have Nishimura who has always been crushing on Taki in a non-serious way. At least, it seems not serious, but that might just be Nishimura's personality. On the other hand, there's the camaraderie between Taki and Tanuma, who understand each other very well, because they have the shared goal of helping Natsume in any way they can. I was surprised at how quickly he got comfortable with her in canon, even teasing her about Nyanko-sensei, considering his awkwardness and what a slow process it was with Natsume. I hope I was able to capture those things.

I'm probably going to write a Nishimura side-story sometime. He is an interesting character to explore. You'd think he doesn't have that much depth, but really he does (eg. the side manga chapter about his first encounters with Natsume).


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the long wait! Here is the next chapter! This week we take a break from the regular story, and go back to a particular incident from Natsume's high school days. I know I ended on a slightly cliffhanger-y note the last time, so you have to wait a little bit longer for that (sorry!).

Thanks for the amazing reviews last chapter, AkabaneKazama, zundial, roserocksrapidly, don redmond, Wrightless, and the two guests! They helped me a lot with figuring out what things went well, didn't go well, and I really enjoyed reading them. Please remember to log in if you ever want a review response from me (because I can't otherwise!).

* * *

**A year ago, November 20xx, final year of high school**

The wind rustled in his hair as Natsume walked through the forest, the dry autumn leaves crunching under his feet. He was taking a longer path home that day, partly because it was a gorgeous afternoon out, but also because he wanted to take the time to clear his head.

He had been rather preoccupied of late, with the same recurring dream plaguing him every night. He always woke up with a sick, empty feeling at the pit of his stomach that made him want to throw up. The first night, he felt so terrible that he thought he was cursed, but Nyanko-sensei had been unconcerned. He continued to have the dreams periodically in the nights that followed, but the nausea eventually subsided. This week though, the dreams had suddenly intensified, with the queasiness back full force. Last night in particular had been hell, and he had barely gotten any sleep.

He was no stranger to dreams. Whenever he was troubled about something, regardless of what it was, he would have nightmares about his childhood days. These left him with a feeling of hopelessness when he woke up, but it would dissipate as soon as he heard the familiar sound of Nyanko-sensei's heavy breathing beside him. Then there were the other types of dreams, visions from youkai that he was in contact with. While these dreams were full of regret and things left unfinished, he was always the observer in these visions. It gave him the desire to help the youkai in any way he could, but at the same time, he had the benefit of knowing that it wasn't his own memories he was seeing. However, his recent dreams were different. Although in some ways they were like the youkai visions, at the same time they felt like his own memories. Whichever the case though, he would wake up weeping and desperate.

The dreams were about his grandmother. In them, he would try to talk to her, say many things, but she would never respond to him, no matter how desperately he tried. Sometimes it would seem like she heard him but chose to ignore it. Other times it was like he was not there at all. But she never said a word. It was cruel punishment, and it felt so real that each time when he woke up, he felt a crushing loneliness. To make things worse, Nyanko-sensei had been frequently gone from home the last few nights. That in itself perhaps wasn't particularly unusual, but it did nothing to ease Natsume's mind.

The dreams had started the day he found a small jade stone tucked away in the box of his grandmother's things. The fact that it was connected to his visions in some way was a forgone conclusion. And yet, Nyanko-sensei had been able to uncover nothing from it.

Natsume sighed and started walking faster. His walk had done nothing to cease his inner turmoil. If anything, it had only worsened it. Maybe it was time to go home and distract himself by some other method. Perhaps he could read that novel that Nishimura had forced on him today.

The afternoon sunlight felt good on his face as Natsume emerged into a clearing from his path in the forest. Then he stopped dead in his tracks. Sitting in a circle in the middle of the clearing were the two mid-rankers, laughing and joking around with some youkai he could identify but not name, and also with…

"Sensei. You're drinking already? Seriously?" He glanced at his watch, which was a birthday present from the Fujiwaras. "It's barely even five!" He felt incredibly irritated at his wayward bodyguard, far more than this simple drinking excursion would warrant. If he was just wasting time drinking all day any way, why couldn't he come home earlier for once, especially when he knew about Natsume's recurring dreams? Natsume wouldn't admit it out loud, but the cat spirit's presence made his nightmares far more bearable.

"Hmph, shut up, Natsume! If you have time to complain get me some manjuuu…. Manjuuu…" Nyanko-sensei burst into giggles on the grassy floor.

Both of the mid-rankers put their arms around Natsume. "Awww, Natsume-sama. Don't be so uptight," said the one-eyed mid-ranker, pushing a sake cup to his mouth. "You have a drink too. You'll feel sooooooo much better."

Natsume shoved them away. "I'm still underage!" Under his breath he muttered darkly, "Honestly, dealing with you drunk lot has made alcohol completely lose its appeal for me."

The distinct smell of tobacco smoke wafted past his nostrils as another pair of arms wrapped around him, but this time accompanied by a feminine touch, "My, how sinister."

"Hinoe…" He blushed as she stroked his cheek.

"You're becoming more handsome day by day, Natsume," Hinoe cooed. "Ah, if only you were a woman instead of a man! I could see you even surpassing Reiko's beauty!"

Natsume turned red and mumbled, "I am clearly a guy." Hinoe really knew how to get under his skin. In middle school, he had been teased for being weak and feminine. Over the years, he had tried to use tougher, masculine language by copying Nishimura and Kitamoto, although he was still pretty feminine by their standards… Hinoe, of course, didn't know any of this, but it still bothered him.

Hinoe was smirking. "Well, a poor substitute for Reiko you might be, but you do just fine." And then to embarrass him even further, she kissed the corner of his mouth.

Natsume jumped away, dumbfounded, and touched his mouth. Did that really just happen? "H-Hinoe, are you drunk today too!?"

She laughed in her characteristic way. "I do not need alcohol to lose my inhibitions, child. It was just the perfect day to tease you."

"P-Please don't do that again!" Even if it was Hinoe, and even if her cool touch had felt kind of nice, he did not like being touched without his consent, and certainly not intimately. He sat down with his back against a tree trunk.

Well. He had certainly gotten the distraction he had wanted. Hinoe certainly knew how to flirt, which was interesting considering how little youkai concerned themselves with gender differences. Somewhat contradictorily, she also hated human men. He wondered what had caused that.

Natsume looked at Hinoe warily as she started giggling again beside him. "What is it now?"

Between giggles, she managed, "My lipstick! Your face!"

Comprehension dawned on him instantly as he blushed furiously once again, and hastily wiped the corner of his mouth. He was so embarrassed…

The sky eventually began to darken, as Natsume settled comfortably under the tree, with Hinoe still beside him. He absentmindedly watched Nyanko-sensei chase the ox-youkai, who had apparently captured the last sake bottle.

His thoughts drifted back to his grandmother. He had redoubled his efforts to find out more about Reiko, in hopes of solving the mystery of the dreams, but he had barely made any progress. Even before the dreams had started, he was always on the lookout for more information about his mother's side of the family. But the only lead he'd had was when he met the dragon shiki of the deceased exorcist Hakozaki-san. That had happened over a year ago now, and it had led nowhere.

He looked contemplatively at Hinoe, who was quietly smoking her pipe beside him. When he met Hinoe, she wasn't even aware of Reiko's death, but was it possible that she knew something that could help him interpret his dream?

He asked, "Hinoe, will you tell me more about Reiko-san?"

"Oh? I've told you about most of my encounters with her already. Of course, I'm always happy to talk about her..." Her voice took on that dreamy quality it always did when she spoke of his grandmother.

"I wanted to know about her later years, especially. Do you know anything about my grandfather?"

Natsume felt the temperature around Hinoe drop instantly when he mentioned the word 'grandfather', but he continued hastily. "I know you lost touch with her many years before her death, but I thought that perhaps you might know. Especially because, well, I think she had more youkai allies than human friends."

Hinoe shrugged coolly. "I can't help you there. I don't know anything about that man."

He insisted, "But after you met me and learned about her death, didn't you do a lot of digging around to find out what had happened? You must have learned something." Why was it that no-one knew anything?

"You dug around too, didn't you? What did you find?" She turned his question on him.

"I can't find anything at all, which is what is so strange. What I learned from my relatives is worth dirt because it's all gossip. It didn't seem like they were very fond of her." They disliked her just for being different, he thought darkly. And later, they looked down on her because she wasn't married when she had his mother. Why were people so judgmental?

"What about from youkai?" Hinoe asked, her tone softer now.

He shook his head. "Nothing there either. I had one lead from an exorcist's shiki once. He told me I looked like a man he knew, but he disappeared before I could question him further. Do you know if my grandfather had spiritual powers?"

Hinoe hesitated a fraction of a second before saying, "I believe he was from one of the dying spiritual families, so he may have had some knowledge."

Natsume's eyes widened at that revelation. Why had he never thought to question Hinoe before? "Who is the source of this information? Can I speak to them?"

"Ask him yourself." She nodded in the direction of a particular youkai in the clearing.

"You can't possibly mean…"

"I do."

"But I've asked him so many times! He's always said that he knows nothing because he was sealed almost two decades before Reiko's death!"

"Oh he knows. He may not know about the exact circumstances of her death, but he knows almost everything else. Who do you think I got my information about Reiko from?"

"Why would he hide it from me?"

"Madara has his reasons. Ask him yourself."

Natsume held his head in his hands. "He is stubborn. If he makes up his mind about something, he sticks with it. If he hasn't told me all this time, he's not going to now."

"He told me in confidence. I am not going to break my word. If you want to know you have to convince him to tell you." Apparently Nyanko-sensei wasn't the only stubborn one.

"Fine…" he said, exasperated. She was his grandmother, and his only link to his powers. Surely he deserved to know? What was with all the secrecy? It angered him that Nyanko-sensei had been lying to him about Reiko, especially when he had labored so hard to search for details about her.

"I'm sure you can convince him somehow." She gave him a small smile, and patted his head.

A lump formed in Natsume's throat. Why was it that her smile looked so sad?

* * *

Natsume had decided not to confront Nyanko-sensei until they were home, but he broke down mid-way on their way back. He had gotten the cat some buns from Nanatsuji, and that had mostly sobered him up.

Looking at him directly, he said, "Sensei. You knew who my grandfather was, right? Why did you keep it a secret from me all this time?" His calm tone belied how upset he was in reality.

The cat didn't even blink, "What are you talking about, you stupid idiot? I don't know where you got that ridiculous idea from." He plopped down from his arms, and kept walking at a brisk pace in front of him.

Natsume ran to catch the cat before he could escape. "Sensei, I beg you, please tell me what you know. Please understand how important this is to me…"

"Tch." The cold fury in Nyanko-sensei's eyes was something that Natsume saw rarely. "I knew telling that hag was a mistake."

He didn't understand. He didn't understand at all. "I am Reiko-san last living relative. She is my only connection to the spiritual world. How could telling me possibly be a mistake? I think I deserve to know, sensei."

The weight in his arms suddenly disappeared as Natsume's world dissolved in smoke. Madara's voice roared at him, "There are some things best left in the past! Do you understand that, Natsume?"

Natsume faced Madara's rage before, but it had never been directed at him. Rather, it was usually for his behalf when his life was in mortal danger. But Natsume would stand his ground. "Sensei… the dreams I've been having, they're getting worse every night. I don't know how long I can take it. Until I know, it's going to drive me crazy."

"Youkai prey on weak hearts. Reiko had a heart of iron, but you are weak and soft. Everything affects you. Do you really think you can handle it, when it was something that nearly destroyed Reiko herself?" His tone was disdainful.

"Even if I can't handle it, I still need to know, Sensei," Natsume said without hesitation. "And I don't need to worry about youkai coming after me." He smiled. "I have you to protect me after all."

"Fine." Madara said quietly. "Don't regret it."

* * *

Nyanko-sensei told him after dinner, once they were back in his room. In the end, Natsume began to think that perhaps he would have been better off not knowing after all…

In Reiko's final year of high school, a boy from a neighboring town took notice of her. He brought her buns from Nanatsuji, and constantly worried about her when he saw her climbing trees or doing something dangerous. Reiko pretended he was a nuisance most of the time, but she was so starved from human contact at that time, that she actually grew quite attached to him. He began to visit more and more frequently as time passed. He couldn't see spirits himself, but he was from a weaker exorcist clan, so he had probably recognized Reiko for what she was from the beginning.

Kiyoshi proposed to her after high school graduation, but she refused. While she trusted him, she had a great mistrust and dislike for exorcist families. She was afraid that if she married into an exorcist clan, they would try to use her powers. Nevertheless, Kiyoshi continued to see each her.

"He was pretty easy to take advantage of," said Nyanko-sensei. "He was like you in that regard, but that made him perfect for a bossy person like Reiko. Because he was such a wimp, she could do what she wanted with him." Natsume smiled. It had sounded like his grandmother was happy, if only for a brief period.

"When Reiko was about twenty-four, I sensed her powers suddenly grow in potency, and it grew day by day. I had only heard rumors of this phenomenon before, but being with child can enhance spiritual power in humans."

"My mother…" Natsume muttered. He wondered what it was like for Reiko, who had been shunned by human society, to be with a child? Did she see her child as a lifelong companion, or was it only a burden? "When she found out… how did she take it?"

"For someone like Reiko, who always knew what to do, it was probably the first time she was at a loss. Even then she barely displayed any emotion, but I could sense her vulnerability."

"And Kiyoshi-san?"

"He didn't know. About the time that she found out about the child, Kiyoshi's family was pushing him to marry someone as soon as possible. Reiko still would not agree. When Kiyoshi refused to give up, she said some things to him that she probably regretted. They parted on bad terms."

Natsume sighed as Nyanko-sensei paused and looked at him. _Oh, Reiko-san… How I wish I could have been there for you. _It had taken him so long to learn not to push people away. Even now it was difficult. But had it not been for the kindness of the people he had met, he might have never known how to try.

Nyanko-sensei told him flatly as if sensing his thoughts, "I've told you multiple times that Reiko is not like you. She was stronger than you, but she was also a coward. When things got tough, she always ran away." Natsume could not disagree. He had seen it himself many times in youkai memories about Reiko. He remembered the incident with Shigeru-san from her high school days. She had clearly liked him, but had started avoiding him to avoid trouble. But hadn't Natsume been the same way?

He knew, though, that things wouldn't end up as well for his grandmother as it did for him, "But it gets worse, doesn't it?"

"Unfortunately yes," Nyanko-sensei sighed.

Natsume swallowed the lump in his throat as he heard the rest of the story. It seemed that while Reiko had made youkai enemies before, her enhanced powers made her an even more attractive target. There was one particular flesh-eating demon youkai named Hitokuchi that was obsessed with her. The demon had enslaved and oppressed some weaker forest-dwelling youkai for centuries. Reiko took pity on them when she stumbled upon them in the forest one day and freed them. Hitokuchi was furious, but was smart enough to realize that he could not defeat Reiko. Instead, for several years, he kept consuming humans and spirits to increase his power, and bid his time. After all, the best revenge is served cold.

When Reiko became pregnant, he noticed Reiko's shift in power immediately, and realized how vulnerable she was at that point. Eating Reiko right away would be no fun, so instead, he decided to locate her lover.

Natsume covered his face with his hands. He knew what happened next. "The demon… he ate Kiyoshi-san, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"Did Reiko-san have a chance to speak to him before he died?"

"No. Hitokuchi was too smart for that. He went to him first. We had no idea. " So she didn't even have the chance to fix things with him, or say goodbye.

"That vile demon brought Kiyoshi's head to taunt Reiko, and Reiko completely lost it. She released so much spiritual power that I was knocked out in the process. When I woke up, the demon was dead in front of me, half of the house had been destroyed, and Reiko had disappeared. "

"Where did she go?"

There was a pause. "I don't know. I didn't see her after that."

Natsume's brow furrowed. Although never explicitly stated, he had always been under the impression that Nyanko-sensei was sealed by his grandmother due to some grievance between them. Was he mistaken? "But she was the one who sealed you, right? When did that happen?"

"How I was sealed is none of your business, Natsume," he snapped. He sounded angry, but Natsume could sense his grief.

Natsume bent down to pat the cat's head. But the moment his fingers contacted with his fur, however, he saw a brief flash. An all-too-familiar nausea began to permeate Natsume's senses…

And suddenly, the dreams about his grandmother made perfect sense. They were Nyanko-sensei's memories, seen through the spirit's eyes. Natsume closed his eyes and let the memories overtake his mind's eye…

.

.

.

_Reiko walked down a path holding a shopping bag, the bump in her stomach clearly visible under her summer dress. Madara hovered over her. "I finally found you after months of searching. Are you really going to ignore me? Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous." He was livid. Reiko kept walking and did not look back. _

_._

_._

_._

"_You don't even have any human friends. Do you really plan to raise your child in isolation from both humans and youkai? Your actions make no sense. Even youkai go mad in isolation." Only silence greeted him as Reiko entered a building._

_._

_._

_._

_The bump had become considerably larger. "Do you think if you ignore youkai long enough, they will mistake you for a regular human and leave you alone?" He scoffed. "Don't make me laugh. Your spiritual powers are so strong you could easily pass off as a spirit." His tone became bitter. "No wonder humans are repelled by you."_

_._

_._

_._

"_If you won't let me watch over your child, at least let me see her once." His voice had lost the anger and bitterness. He sounded defeated. "It's absurd to think that I can't enter your home when I was the one who taught you those seals in the first place." For the briefest of seconds, Reiko looked at him, as if about to finally break her silence. But the moment passed, and Madara looked desperate._

_._

_._

_._

_The scene changed again, and this time Natsume recognized the shrine that Reiko was praying at. A man emerged from the trees. He strangely resembled Natsume, except he had dark, cropped hair, and a longer face._

_When Reiko spotted the man, Natsume saw her usual smiling façade slip for the first time. She gasped as tears began to stream down her face. The man smiled at her and touched her cheek. Reiko's expression instantaneously changed to one of fury, "MADARA! How dare you impersonate him?!" She took out a small jade stone from her pocket which shone with a bright white light-_

_._

_._

_._

Natsume squeezed Nyanko-sensei to his chest and wept. He wept for Reiko-san, for Kiyoshi-san, for Nyanko-sensei, and for himself.

* * *

He was in his futon with the familiar weight of Nyanko-sensei on top of his blanket, physically and emotionally exhausted, and almost asleep, when he realized that there was something that had to be said.

"Sensei? Are you awake?"

"What is it?"

He smiled and stroked his fur. "Thank you for guiding me, and protecting me for these past few years. The Fujiwaras taught me kindness, but you taught me how to understand the spiritual world. Without you, I don't think I would be able to embrace both the human world and the spiritual world so fully. I am so glad to have you in my life…" He paused. "I hope we can be together for many more years to come."

Nyanko-sensei scoffed. "Stop being so creepy, you dimwit. I am not here for you. I'm only after the Book of Friends. I'm just watching over you so no one else can claim it. Plus, you are my food."

Natsume laughed. He had been worried that things would be awkward between them after the revelations of tonight. But it seemed like he was worried over nothing.

His grandmother had suffered a lot, but he was not his grandmother. He was not that great at relationships either, but he would take things one step at a time.

* * *

**Notes:**

I am sure that by the time Natsume went to college, he would have discovered more of his grandmother's past, and I feel that would play a big role on his outlook on relationships. This chapter was a result of that.

While Nyanko-sensei never divulges that much information about Reiko to Natsume, I've always felt that he knows more than he lets on. I think Midorikawa-sensei is probably withholding what his relationship was like with Reiko until the right moment, because it's obvious that he must have been quite attached to her/close to her. For example, when Hinoe first spots Madara in his (miniature) cat form, she laughs and says, something like "Madara, you would go so far to make Reiko love you?" That set me thinking about what lengths he would actually go for her?

I don't think it's revealed in canon who actually sealed Madara (he was pretty cagey about that as well). I assume it has to be someone incredibly powerful, since the only people he has had trouble with are the two Natsumes and deities. So it's possible that it was Reiko herself.

Onihitokuchi is a demon in Japanese folklore that eats and kills humans. I cut off the "Oni" since I was referring to it as a demon anyway.

Next time we will go back to Natsume's college life, and the aftermath of his discovery :P. Sorry to make you wait so long for that!


End file.
